St. Merritt

Después de un par de semanas escuchando casi exclusivamente el Holiday de The Magnetic Fields quise escribir sobre alguna canción suya pero no pude elegir una. Es imposible elegir una letra de Stephin Merritt por el simple hecho de que es (no tengo dudas al respecto) uno de los mejores compositores y letristas de la historia y tal vez el mejor de la actualidad y que no hya una sola canción suya que no tenga una letra maravillosa. Así que elegí unas cuantas de las letras que más me gustaban para este post porque las letras de Merritt dicen por sí mismas más que todos los posts que yo pueda escribir sobre ellas. En algunas remarqué alguna frase que era la verdadera razón para elegir esa letra pero que no quise sacar de contexto. Pensé en traducirlas pero creí que jamás iba a poder hacerle justicia a las originales. Así que en realidad no hay ninguna excusas para este post más que mencionar a Merritt y citarlo un poco, pero cuando hablamos de cosas de tal belleza no hacen falta excusas.

No importa lo que algunos digan sobre él, que es un hijo de puta histérico e insoportable, que es demasiado emotivo al cantar o que es sus canciones son demasiado frías, hasta que es racista, no hay nadie más como Merritt dando vueltas en la música actual. a tal vez no lo haya nunca.



"On the ferris wheel
looking out on Coney island
under more stars than
there are prostitutes in Thailand
our hair in the air
our lips blue from cotton candy
when we kiss it feels
like a flying saucer landing "
("Strange Powers", Holiday)

"I saw you standing at the airport
With your chihuahua in your hand
Crying on the moving sidewalk
On your way to Disneyland

And the flowers she sent and the flowers she said she sent
Are all equally dead
You don't care anymore, she said
And the books she read and the books that she said she read
Are all spread on the floor
You don't care about them anymore"
("And the flowers she sent and the flowers she said she sent", Holiday)

"I'm taking a ride to somewhere inside
where you never left
and I never cried
at the speed of light
in my car. "
("In My Car", Holiday)

"But I can feel my courage crumbling
and my heart just turns to ice
When I see myself reflected
in your torn green velvet eyes."
("Torn Green Velvet Eyes", Holiday)

"Don't fall in love with me yet
We only recently met
True I'm in love with you but
you might decide
I'm a nut
Give me a week or two to
go absolutely cuckoo
then, when you see your error,
then, you can flee in terror
like everybody else does
I only tell you this cause
I'm easy to get rid of
but not if you fall in love
Know now that I'm on the make
and if you make a mistake
my heart will certainly break
I'll have to jump in a lake
and all my friends will blame you
There's no telling what they'll do
I t's only fair to tell you
I'm absolutely cuckoo"
("Absolutely Cuckoo", 69 Love Songs)

"They say there's a sun in the sky
but me, I can't imagine why
There might have been one
before you were gone
but now all I see is the night, so
I don't believe in the sun
How could it shine down on everyone
and never shine on me"
("I Don't Believe in the Sun", 69 Love Songs)

"You said you were in love with me
Both of us know that that's impossible
And I could make you rue the day
But I could never make you stay
Not for all the tea in China
Not if I could sing like a bird
Not for all North Carolina
Not for all my little words
Not if I could write for you
The sweetest song you ever heard
It doesn't matter what I'll do
Not for all my little words"
("All My Little Words", 69 Love Songs)

"Well my heart's runnin' round like a chicken with its head cut off
All around the barn yard falling in and out of love
Poor thing's blind as a bat
Gettin' up, fallin' down, gettin' up
Who'd fall in love with a chicken with its head cut off?"
("A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off", 69 Love Songs)

"I'm for free love
and i'm on free fall"
("A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off", 69 Love Songs)

"Grand pianos crash together when my boy walks down the street
There are whole new kinds of weather when he walks with his new beat
Everyone sings hallelujah when my boy walks down the street
Life just kind of dances through ya from your smile down to your feet
...
The world does the hula-hula when my boy walks down the street "
("When My Boy Walks Down The Street", 69 Love Songs)

"There'll be time for sex and drugs in Heaven
When our pheromones are turned up to eleven
But tonight I think I'd rather just go dancing
There'll be time enough for sex and drugs in Heaven, my love
And time enough for rocking when we're old"
("Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old", 69 Love Songs)

"If you don't mind why don't you mind
Where is your sense of indignation
You are too kind
Much too kind
Where is the madness that you promised me
Where is the dream for which I paid dearly
When things go wrong I sing along
It is the nature of the business
But you're not here to make my sad songs more sincere
No one will ever love you honestly
No one will ever love you for your honesty
No one will ever love you honestly
No one will ever love you for your honesty"
("No One Will Ever Love You", 69 Love Songs)

"I met Ferdinand de Saussure
On a night like this
On love he said
"I'm not so sure
I even know what it is
No understanding
No closure
It is a nemesis
You can't use a bulldozer
To study orchids"

He said...
So we don't know anything
You don't know anything
I don't know anything
about love
But we are nothing
You are nothing
I am nothing
Without love"
("The Death of Fernidand de Saussure", 69 Love Songs)

"We used to go out on the summer nights and dance in the neon rain
We used to hold hands at the movie show but we'll never hold hands again
...
Those days are gone
You and I were young those summer nights
You'll see the world diving for a girl you'll never find
and then we'll quietly grow old: the saddest story ever told."
("The Saddest Story Ever Told", The Wayward Bus)

"You're in your own little world: an expensive birdcage;
Like a plastic baby in a Faberge egg"
("Living in an Abandoned Firehouse With You", The Wayward Bus)

"I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me
I went out to the forest and caught
A hundred thousand fireflies
As they ricochet round the room
They remind me of your starry eyes"
("100.000 Fireflies", The Wayward Bus)

"You were just like me
you were one big bruise
In the game of life with your playing too lose
You were Jessy James
I was William Tell
You were Daniel Webster
I was the devil himself

Two characters in search of a country song
Just make believe, but so in love
Two characters been listin' all night long
for voices from Nashville above

Hell in eighteen wheels
at a hundred per
We went crashing through the Jersey barrier
But the road went on
over dale and hill
You were Calamity Jane
and I was Wild Bill"
("Two Characters in Search of a Country Song", The Charm of the Highway Strip)

"Why would I stop loving you
a hundred years from now?
It's only time."
("It's Only Time", i)

"I have suffered a million fools in factories and schools
and in my little trailer home
I have suffered a million fools in rags and in jewels
I just want to be let alone"
("Dream Hat", Wasps' Nest)